Recent clean up efforts at the Columbia Theatre in downtown Paducah sparked a creative endeavor with local artists. The Paducah Art House Alliance is hosting an exhibit and sale of artwork Thursday night (June 9) created by found objects in the historic space. On Sounds Good, Austin Carter speaks with Darlene Mazzone about "Reclaimed & Repurposed) at the Paducah School of Art & Design, the origins of the idea and some of the work on display and for sale.

Downtown Paducah's Columbia Theatre is in the early stages of rebirth, or that's what members of the Columbia Club hope. The massive theatre first opened to the public in 1927 and has been deteriorating since its last show in 1987. The estimated cost to renovate the space is six million dollars, which the club hopes to raise through grants and local investors. Matt Markgraf takes us on a tour of the building while he lends a hand on a recent clean-up day.

Darlene Mazzone and Landee Bryant-Greene join us on Sounds Good to talk about the Columbia Club's efforts to raise funds to renovate Paducah's historic Columbia Theatre, a project with an estimated $6 million price tag. Mazzone says restoring the architectural gem will improve downtown economic viability and expects the donation to be put toward a feasibility study for the renovation project. Hear the conversation:

The Paducah Renaissance Alliance wants to expand its advisory board from nine to 15 members. Executive Director Lisa Thompson and Chairperson Darlene Mazzone lobbied for the increase at the Paducah City Commission meeting Tuesday, saying the move would bring more diversity to the board. Commissioner Sandra Wilson agreed.

“The PRA board would have more people to give them ideas, more people to submit suggestions about what could be done, so I think it’s a great idea to expand it,” Wilson said.

Headlines and soundbytes from world leaders is sometimes the only impressions we get of a country, but how often does a politician or president accurately reflect your voice? Commentator Darlene Mazzone shares a page from her diary, about a trip to Nepal, where she discovered that the key to understanding foreign people and places it to seek the poetry in the details of their cultures.

If you’ve ever driven down the highway and spotted a sign with a misplaced apostrophe or seen syntax so teeth-grindingly bad you almost ran off the road, then this next commentary will be music to your ears. Darlene Mazzone tells us that, for her, writing is every bit the art form, one all the more beautiful when the grammar is good.

Call me old. NO WAIT, do not call me old.

Call me a grammatical geek . . . or a literary luddite. Call me a wordsmith who chooses to use the purest linguistic alloys.